Tips for your group shots

With so many guests on your wedding day, trying to organise grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and children into small groups can be challenging. They’ll be moments where Grandad is looking at the gardens flowers instead of standing next to his wife, auntie jean has gone to the bathroom and the groomsmen thought it would be the perfect time to visit the bar.

So, whilst there may be loud cries for ‘Uncle Dennis?’, or ‘Where is Grandma? ‘Fear not we will get through them and using the handy tips below will help you plan your group shots limiting these moments, allowing you both to get back to enjoying your wedding day.

Plan and plan and then when you’ve finished, plan some more!

My planning document will allow you to choose from a predefined list of group shots, or include your own custom groups in the space provided.

Group shots will often be taken at the reception venue. Weather depending, they will be taken outside just after the reception drinks and before the wedding breakfast. I will always try and go outside, even if we must use brollies as it will make for something a little different, albeit a bit quirky! But if it’s not possible and the clouds are against us, then we will look for locations inside.

Bear in mind, that if your venue has limited space inside, doing a large group wedding photograph may not be possible and may require smaller groupings. It may be worth thinking about this as you plan your group shots, it never hurts to have that just in case list.

One of the most important parts of the planning stage is to plan the timings of your group shots. The more group shots you request, the more time it will ultimately take and if there is only 45 minutes between welcoming drinks and the wedding breakfast, it doesn’t give us much time to fit them all in.

As a rule, I recommend allocating 10 minutes to large group shots and 5 minutes to smaller intimate group shots. This is to organise everyone, position them, get them to smile and then take the photo. I will always aim to move through these as quickly as possible, but in using these timings you can gauge how long your group photos will take and realistically how many we can fit in.

The numbers game!

The number of group shots ultimately comes down to the size of your wedding party, but more importantly comes down to what you want out of your group shot photography. Are these photos to be used in your album, or are they going to go on the wall or mantel piece? If they’re not do you need lots of groups shots?

When I am asked about group shots, I always reply with what are the shots that are most important to you? Do you need extended family group shots, with great aunties and cousins? If so, then great! As these will be special to you. If not, I recommend keeping the minimum of group shots down, maybe around eight to ten and focus on intimate family.

This will allow you to spend more time with your guests and get you back to enjoying your wedding.

It’s all in the details, details, details!

Be as specific as possible, filling out the planning document as much as possible and use it to think about the shots you want. By all means, add your own group shots, discuss it with friends and family but ultimately, it’s your choice!

What your mum and dad have in mind of traditional photos, is often very different to what you may want. Times have changed since your parents wedding day, group formal photographs were the norm and made up 70% of their wedding album. Group shots today are still important, but I find these take up the least amount of space when couples come to choosing their album layouts.

Making sure you have a complete list of groups shots and who is in them helps keep things moving quickly. If you need to adapt and change the group shots on the day (sometimes this happens) I will adapt for you, but it will ultimately come down to timings and the weather.

An important part of the group shot planning is to let me know if there are members of the group who are elderly and struggle to work. It’s also important if there are small toddlers and infants as this will affect the ordering. I always try to make sure these groups are photographed early on.

Tell your parents!

After discussing the group shots in detail and finalising them, I always recommend you tell your family members what you have decided on. This is your list and your day, the last thing you will want is family members trying to organise additional group shots on your behalf. Just because your mums friend Joyce is a close friend of the family, doesn’t mean you need her on your group shots to.

Location, Location, Location!

This is a crucial part of your group photography as I always look to use the best available light. Light is more important than location as I don’t want to position groups looking into the sun just because the background looks nice. Facing the sun will create blinkers and squinters and that never looks good on photos.

If you have a particular location at the venue which you like the look of, then by all means let me know and we can see if we can make it work. We may have to move the group shots to later in the day or use speedlites if the available light is poor.

Order!

So what’s the ordering going to be?

Well once I have the planning document back I will be able to see what group shots you would like, along with making sure we have enough time to do them.

I will then work out the ordering. If you have selected the large group shot, I usually start with this first. The simple reason being is that most of the people in this shot will not be in the others and it frees them up, so they’re not stood around waiting. There’s nothing worse than doing a group shot later on, when half of the wedding party is missing.

Where possible I also like to photograph grandparents and infants early on. This is especially the case if grandparents have trouble walking, or can’t be on their feet too long. Please make sure these are documented on the planning document.

I will always confirm the order back to you in the photography timeline, this is so we all know the order on the day.

And here come the runners!

These are often siblings, bridesmaids, groomsmen or ushers who know the families. These are the ones who will help round up the wanderers, the ones in the bar or the ones lost on their way to the bathroom.

It’s worth mentioning this to them before the group shots, so they know what is required of them. I’ll also help to organise to, shouting over everybody else, but it’s much more polite and helpful if the runners can help round up the missing stragglers.

Last but not least!

The bride and groom shots will be partly taken after the group shots and later in the day. I will always try and get a couple of mantel piece shots just after the groups shots. This often depends again on the timings, weather and if you still have it in you to pose for another few photos.

Oh you know, just two cool people and one amazing sunset!

I first met Kathryn and James over coffees and iced lattes and it didn’t take me long to realise why they were a perfect match for one another. Listening to their story of how they met and their journey together, you’d be hard pressed to find a more down to earth couple.

Kathryn and James asked me for something a little different for their pre-wedding shoot, something that they could look back fondly on, I suggested a couple of memorable places for them to choose from. Each one a little different from the last, from unique, to quirky to the more adventurous location.

When I heard their heart was set on the more adventurous setting, I knew this was going to be something special. Heading into the Peaks Kathryn and James, were adorable, sweet and both just really awesome people to be around.

This is how our sunset session went.

Happiness, love and sunsets - oh and a little bit of luck

I met Katie and Graeme on a Sunday evening in Derbyshire for their pre-wedding shoot. As I remember it, I had arrived a little early and as I sat in my car I watched the clouds come together to snuff out the sun from the sky. What I had hoped would have been perfect evening light, was cruelly disappearing in front of my eyes, like a magic trick gone horribly wrong.  But as I walked to the edge of the car park, cursing the weather gods, Katie and Graeme arrived and as if on cue the clouds started to lift and….hello sunshine!

Far back, beyond the trees, in the mists of time..our story begins.

There are some images I’ve always wanted to try and recreate myself, a sort of bucket list of photographs which I’ve accumulated over the years, either from seeing them in bridal magazines, websites or from following fellow photographers.

All of these images stayed with me and are different for some reason or another, from either the use of dramatic lighting to create effects, composition of the image or shots which are timed perfectly to capture that one moment filled emotion and feeling. Some are impossible to create, as you have to wait for the moment and be in the right place at the right time, whilst others are more achievable with a bit of work and some talented people.

This past week I was able to tick one off and in doing so capture something special with a group of photographers at Hodsock Priory. Using a combination of ambient light, speedlites and a little bit of smoke we captured a scene straight out of a fairy tale.   Its a scene which is transferable anywhere, to any landscaper and creates a dramatic image.

This is something I think I’ll keep playing with as it’s one of my favourite effects.